To Hell and Back
by swenglish
Summary: When a simple fun weekend hike turns into a race against life and death, will 2 professors and 1 agent find their way back to LA and help in time?Told in first person, Both Don's and Charlie's POV.
1. Chapter 1

Hello. Here comes a new story from me. First I would like to thank my beta reader/ editor Alice. Without her this story would never have become an reality and she is the one that deserve all the credits for helping me out and giving me encouraging comments. Thank you hon, you're awesome! She is also the one that came up with the title and helped me with the summary :) A big thank you to Megan too for your feedback. Okay now when the Golden Globe speech is done LOL, here comes the story; and I hope that you send me some feedback. Take care and see ya, swenglish.

To Hell and Back - Chapter 1

Every time a case is wrapped up it takes a while before everything settles back normal again. It's the space in between that is hard to handle and all you long for is for something exciting to happen again but at the same time all you want is peace and quiet. This was the feeling I had, wrapping up this case that we had been working on non-stop.

It was a homicide case where the murderer had first raped his victims before gouging their eyes out. Five women had had their lives brutally ended before the guy was finally caught. Seriously, I think that we wouldn't have been able to wrap up this case so quickly if it wasn't for my younger brother, Charlie, who had been consulting on this case for us. He was the one, with his strange mathematical equations, who had figured out the when this guy would strike next. Charlie's calculations had been so accurate that we were able to grab this guy at the crime scene.

Hiding a yawn with the back of my hand I did my best to stay focused. Tough cases like this often leaves me beat when the worst of the adrenaline rush passes and all I wanna do is chill out and take it easy. But with cases like this there is always a mountain of paper work and that is what I had been up to for the past day and a half.

' "Tired?" David asked, as he came into my cubicle, holding a stack of files in his hand.

Looking up I groaned inwardly; how many more files could there be? "A little," I confessed.

"Okay." Putting the files down on the table he went on. "Didn't you say that you were going to leave early today?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "Why?"

"Nothing, just wanted to remind you since you said you would be out of the office by lunchtime at the latest."

Lunch? How had it gotten so late? I had been so busy that I forgot to eat and that was something that rarely happened to me. "Crap!" Motioning towards the papers on the desk I looked over at my agent. "You think you can wrap these up?"

"Sure boss. Just leave them. Cole and I will get them sorted out. I have to make a call and then we'll get this work done." With that he left my cubicle.

"Great." Standing up I picked up the files I had been working on and put them back in the case folders. Rubbing the back of my neck I suddenly noticed how beat I felt even though it was only noon.

"Don, is everything all right?"

Terry, my partner for the last five years stood looking at me mildly concerned. She is the one person who has always stood by my side whenever things have started heating up and if there is one person I would trust with my life it's her. I smiled.

"Yeah, why wouldn't it be? I'm taking the day off early."

"You're going home to get some rest aren't you?" She peered at me. "It sure looks as if you could use it.

"No, I have plans this weekend."

"Oh really?" Eying me she asked curiously, "Anything you care to talk about?"

I laughed. "Sure. Charlie asked me to come with him and Larry…out hiking." I let out a breath that I hadn't even been aware I was holding. "So that is what I'm going to do; spend this weekend crawling around some far away rocks and falling on my ass."

Terry smiled. "That sounds nice."

"Nice?" I snorted. "That isn't exactly the word I had in mind. I would rather spend the weekend, relaxing and watching the baseball game with a couple of cold beers."

She laughed. "I'm sure you would." Then there was a glint in her eyes. "This will be a piece of cake; you're a well trained aren't you?" I knew she was referring to the last arrest when I had a bit of a run and had been breathing hard afterwards like a lung patient. There had been comments that I was starting to slow down, and to be honest I wasn't in peek physical condition any longer…age had started to take a toll on my body. That and too many beers and Dad's cooking left their mark.

I shrugged. "Yeah maybe so, but I doubt it would help when it comes to hiking." I'll guess that I didn't sound too excited over this whole deal since Terry patted my back, encouragingly.

"Don, I'm sure that it'll be a great time…besides you get to spend some time with your brother and his friend."

Looking at Terry I did my best to figure out if she was spiting me or not, but finding that her words were genuine I sighed. "It's okay."

The more I thought about it, the less I wanted to go. It was not that I had anything against the actual hike; it was more the company I had to go with. Don't take me wrong. I love my brother and I think Larry is a great guy, but having to listen to conversations about equations and calculations and math theories could be a bit too much, especially when it came to a full weekend's worth of it.

Taking a quick look at my watch I noticed that it was a quarter past one and I had promised Charlie to be at his place by half past one at the latest. We had to leave pretty early since it was quite a ride to the trail and we wanted to start the hike before it got dark.

"Dammit!" I cursed, gathering up my things and jacket and then said good bye to everyone before dashing out of the office.

For once I had actually planned ahead what I would take with me and had left my gear in the trunk of the car. Speeding over to Charlie's I tried to think if I had forgotten anything but came up with zero.

Steeling myself; I tried to make up excuses both for Charlie and Dad since neither of them liked it when I turned up late to appointments. My younger brother, who could be something out of a perfectionist when it came to math and numbers, could be a complete slob when it came to other things, like his desk. It was often crowded with all kinds of papers, theories and projects; however time was something Charlie tried to be very accurate with. At least when it was something that would benefit him.

The first person that came to say hello was Charlie. Feeling a bit tensed I waited to either be chewed out or to get a hug; I got the latter.

"So you came after all!" he said, his face filled with excitement. Charlie looked as happy as only a kid would be.

I nodded. "Yep, sorry I'm late. Something came up." A white lie never hurt.

"It doesn't matter." My brother was shining like the sun. "This will be great, won't it?"

"Yeah, Buddy." My stomach decided to make a growl at that very moment, "We got something to eat? Where's Dad?" Hurrying into the kitchen I was on a mission to find something eatable, which was never hard with Dad being such an excellent chef. Opening the refrigerator I scanned the shelves. Picking out an already made turkey sandwich together with a glass of apple juice I walked over to the dining room table, and sat down.

"Hey, Donnie." Looking up I saw Dad standing there.

"Hi. Were you out?"

"No; I was just making sure that all the food you guys need for this weekend is packed.

I raised an eyebrow; food always improved my mood. "Really; you packed a lot?"

He chuckled. "Well lets just say that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that you could be away for a week if it only depends on the food."

"Good." I let out a sigh of relief and then watched how Charlie was running back and forth in the house as if he didn't know what to do. Organisation when it came to packing had never been his strong suit and every time we're going somewhere it's like he never knew what to take with him. That is kind of weird since hiking has always been one of my brother's favourite hobbies; that is if you don't include math!

Suddenly something came to mind; I had forgotten my hiking boots!

""SHI…oot!" I stopped myself from cussing out loud, trying to avoid a hassle from Dad. They looked at me for the moment, Dad didn't look too pleased but at least he didn't utter "Donnie" in that way he always does when he is disappointed over something I've done. Biting my lip I explained.

"I forgot my hiking boots!"

"Oh." Charlie looked at me and for a second I could see the disappointment in his eyes too, then he suddenly lit up. "You can borrow mine."

I shook my head. "No; No you need them." Even though I knew that my brother would do just about anything to make this trip happen; I couldn't let him go without boots. There would be snakes and terrain that would be hard to climb and I couldn't live with myself if Charlie were to fall and hurt himself. So therefore I said, this time firmly. "I can go to the apartment and get them. It won't take long."

"No." Charlie frowned. "We don't have the time. Larry is waiting at CalSci and we're already late" Turning to Dad he asked, "Where did you put my old hiking boots?"

I opened my mouth to object once again when Charlie held up his hand to shut me up. Normally this would've made me rather upset but when I could see he was determined to get his plan to work I let it go.

"I think I put them in the basement." The older man said, as he scratched his head. "I think they are…they are next to those boxes that your aunt Allie sent down from Lexington, Kentucky…"

Charlie didn't waste any more time and was down the basement stairs within seconds. "I'll be right back."

I laughed. "It looks like someone is really eager to get going."

Dad nodded. "Charlie has been talking about this all morning. He even skipped class today, claiming that he had to pack instead."

"He skipped class?" This was not the Charlie Eppes I knew.

"Yes." Dad sat down next to me. "He told me that Amita took over his classes today" Pausing for a second he added in a whispering tone, "You know Donnie, he is really looking forward to this trip, but he is also very worried that you don't want to go."

"He is?" I frowned.

"Yes." Dad nodded. "He thinks that you are only going because you feel like you have to so that you are not letting him down."

Now I felt bad. Did it show that much how little I wanted to go on this trip?

"You know this means a lot to Charlie and even though I know that you'd rather spend your weekend watching the baseball game, I still think that you should give this a fair shot."

"Dad I am; I going!" This conversation was starting to annoy me. For some reason that I couldn't figure out, it was always about me having to please Charlie. I opened my mouth to defend myself when my brother's voice could be heard from the basement.

"Dad I can't find them. Do you know where they can be?"

Dad walked calmly over to the door, peering down into the cellar. "Aren't they next to those boxes I told you about? I think I put them there."

"I don't know." Charlie sounded a bit whiny. "It's so dark I can't see anything."

"Turn on the light." I suggested, feeling like I had to say something to help.

"The light is broken….wait I think I found them…..OUCH!"

Surprised over my brothers sudden yell I hurried towards the door where Dad was already heading down the stairs. "What happened?"

"Nothing." Charlie made a face as he was rubbing his arm where his green t-shirt ended. "I think something bit me." He put the boots on the floor beside him.

"Bit you?" Dad was instantly by his side. "Come up to the light and let me see."

Charlie was holding his arm, rubbing his thumb up and down as if it hurt. "Something stung me."

Dad bent over, his eyes peering over his reading glasses. "I don't see anything:"

He examined Charles arm carefully. It was a little red but he could've just as easily been scratched when he was searching for the boots.

"Maybe you imagined it." I volunteered, only to get a dark look; wait scratch that; two dark looks back at me. Neither Dad or Charlie looked too pleased. "What?"

"I swear it was something there. It stung me, but it happened so fast."

Dad felt Charlie's arm. "Does it hurt?"

"No." Charlie shook his head.

"Maybe it was a wasp," I suggested.

Dad frowned. "Don we don't have wasps in the basement."

"All right." Shrugging I added, "Maybe it was a mosquito bite then. It sure looks like that."

Neither of them answered and after Dad had given Charlie his parental health clearance he said, "Charlie, if it starts to ache or get red and swollen you should get someone to look at it. You can never be too careful you know."

For a second my brother's face paled. If there was one thing he disliked it was doctors and I knew it would take a lot to drag him to a hospital if it was something as small as a bite.

"It's nothing." Charlie said. "I think I exaggerated. It doesn't even sting anymore."

"Good." I thought about what Dad said about how excited Charlie was and his concerns about me not wanting to go with him. "Come on, Buddy. We have a great weekend ahead of us, just you and me and Larry. It'll be awesome!"

I smiled at him.

"You really think so?" The corner of his lips twisted up in a big smile.

"Sure, Buddy." Patting his shoulder I saw Dad's approvingly expression. "Let's get going."

"'kay."

Putting the stuff in the car we were soon on our way to pick up Larry and to my relief I noticed that the happy face on Charlie was back again. Once we'd picked up the professor from the university, we set towards the mountains and the hiking adventure that would prove to be one of the toughest rides in our lives…


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you so very very much to all of you that have sent me feedback. I appreciate it so much :) Here comes another chapter and once again one special person deserves credit and that is my beat reader Alice. You rock lady! As always keep those comments coming. Take care, swenglish. 

To Hell and Back - Chapter 2

"No I'm telling you the Yankees won't win this time. They don't have that…that player… Shit…what's his name?" I watched as Don did his best to remember the player and couldn't help but smile when Larry swiftly came up with the name.

"You mean Derek Jeter?"

"Yeah, yeah that's the guy," my brother said, excitement filling his voice. "He's their top leadoff hitter and since he's injured I think that Damon from the Redsox will sweep the field completely."

"Don you might actually be right this time. The score results have drastically changed in the past few years and…." I listened to my former teacher going through the test scores as if he had studied it before. My brother seemed impressed.

It felt like a stone had lifted from my chest. Even though I knew that Larry and Don were great friends; I was actually a bit worried that their very different personalities could result in conflicts over the course of the weekend.. But it didn't look as if I had much to fear; not the way they seemed to connect on several different levels. Closing my eyes I leaned against the headrest. A headache had slowly developed during the drive that I tried to fend off. It probably developed because this is the first day off I have had in what seemed like months. There was emotional pressure associated with going on this hike. I had the uncomfortable feeling that at some point before we were to leave Don would call and cancel because 'something came up'. There seemed to be an awful lot of 'something came ups' in my relationship with my brother and it has led me to be sceptical when trying to plan something like this with him.

One memory in particular came to mind and that was when Don had promised to go with me to Disney Land. I was around nine and Mom and Dad couldn't go. My big brother had volunteered to take me and I remember being so excited. I even woke up very early, afraid that I would miss it and therefore sat and waited down the living room until Don woke up. Then when the final moment came Don got a phone call from his friends and I never forgot the expression on his face when he told me that 'something had come up' and that he couldn't go.

I was so disappointed that I wanted to cry. Thinking about it I think I actually did. When I found out that the something he had talked about was a girl I was even more upset. How could my brother do this to me? There was no limit to how betrayed I felt.

I don't remember if Don felt sorry for bailing out on the Disney trip but what I do know is that the next time he asked me to come with him I was very reluctant to go. At that time in my life I actually liked things that "normal" kids did and I think that was the last time I looked forward to something as simple as Disney Land.

"Hey Charlie, did you hear what I said?" It was my brother calling for me and I jerked.

"Oh sorry…No I didn't, what did you say?"

A bit confused I looked up only to see both Don and Larry staring at me as if I had grown another head or two. To my surprise I also noticed that we had stopped.

"Where there?" I asked as I sat up straighter in the seat.

"No." Larry shook his head. "We're stopping to get something to eat since its way past lunch time and it's important that we get food in our stomachs before going on this hiking trip."

I nodded. "Okay." Opening the door I stepped outside, feeling the blasting sun hit me on my back. It was a warm and sunny day and the temperature was in the low to mid 80's. Once outside I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"You okay, Buddy?" Don gave me a worried look. "You spaced out on us."

. That comment made me grin. "I'm always spacing out on you as if that would be something new."

Don smiled back but his smile didn't reach his eyes. "You'd let me know if something was bothering you, huh Charlie?"

"Yeah sure."

Feeling that this conversation was starting to be a bit too mushy I hurried inside the restaurant, sitting down in a booth.

"I gotta use the men's room." Don announced, as he put his jacket next to me. "You guys can order." With that he was out of view. Looking at Larry who seemed to be deep in thought; I was about to ask him what he wanted when my friend said, "I believe that I shall answer Mother Nature's call as well." He got up and followed my brother to the rear of the restaurant.

Sighing I picked up the menu scanning it. Even though I barely had anything too eat, being too nervous over this trip, I still didn't feel hungry. It was actually more quite the opposite. The headache that had come over me while riding the car was still there, persistent and as if that wasn't enough the area on my arm where the wasp or whatever it was bit me was starting to get red and swollen.

"Yeah right," I muttered as I scanned the area. "We don't have wasps, Dad!"

"That bites still bothering you?"

Don was back from using the restroom and as always he never let anything go undetected. It wasn't for nothing he'd become a special agent. Quickly I pulled down my long-sleeve. "No, not really. I think you're right. It's just a scratch." White lies never hurt anyone besides if I told Don that my arm felt really warm around that area he would probably throw a fit and the hiking expedition would be just another disappointed memory.

"I don't believe you. Let me see." Taking my arm he made an attempt to pull my sleeve up when the waitress suddenly appeared at our table.

"You want to order?"

Relieved at being saved by the bell I looked up quickly. "Yes please," I said, before pushing my brother away from me. The blonde waitress as well as my brother looked at me strangely but I couldn't care less. All I wanted was to go on this hike with my best friend and my brother and nothing was going to keep that from happening.

It didn't take long for the three of us to get our food and even though eating had seemed to be a good idea, especially since Larry was right about the importance of nutrition before going on a hike, I seemed to lack the appetite.

"Is that all you going to eat?" Don asked when I had pushed around the meat in the gravy long enough.

Looking up I saw his concerned expression. "Yes, I'm full." Feeling that I had to make up an excuse I added, "Dad made sure I ate a big lunch before we left."

Don frowned. "He did?" There was doubt in his eyes.

"Yes." Feeling that it would be appropriate to find an escape I turned to Larry. "What direction did you say the restroom was at?"

After getting a thorough description of the path, I got out from the booth hurrying out of sight. Once in the restroom I pulled up my sleeve again and examined the "bite." It was defiantly a bit red and swollen and it itched a little. Wetting a paper towel I pressed it against the "bite." It stopped itching and once I finished my business I walked into the restaurant only to discover that my company had left and was waiting in the car for me.

Without a word I jumped in the back and we rode off. I have no idea how long we had travelled when I felt a hand shake my shoulders; roughly.

"Come on Charlie, wake up…we're here" Once again I found myself peering up at my big brothers concerned eyes.

Blinking several times I tried to focus on the surroundings. "Oh I most have dozed off," I apologized.

"Dosing might not be the right term to describe the activity you've been engaged in." Larry stated and I started to laugh when my brother filled in;

"No snoring like a pig would be a better term for it."

"Sorry." I sat up straighter in my seat and did my best to swipe the cobwebs away that clouded my brain. For some reason I felt so incredibly tired and the headache that had plagued me all day still lingered.

Don had already hoisted out our backpacks and he was in the process of putting his on, with the help of Larry. I watched, a bit amused as my brother seemed to tangle himself up and the cuss words were falling like raindrops in a thunderstorm. Good that Dad wasn't here to hear the language that he was using.

"It's already 6.15 pm; you think we should stay here or start hiking?" Don asked.

Part of me wanted to stay while the other part wanted desperately to get going. "I say that we go. That way we will be on our way when it's time to set camp."

Larry agreed with me, and soon we we're on our way.

Normally it would've been an easy hike for me, but walking only intensified my headache and I started to sweat profusely. Panting I did my best to keep up with the others but it proved to be a hard task and after an hour I felt the need to sit down.

"Wait," I panted as I hunched down on the ground. Instantly both Don and Larry were at my side.

"Hey little brother you can't keep up with me?" Don never spared a moment to spite me. It didn't help that I happened to mention to him that my muscles were more suited for hiking than his and that I could mathematically prove it. Now I regretted those words.

"Didn't you say that you could mathematically prove that you were better suited to hiking terrain like this than I am?" He gloated with pride. "I think you seem to forget that I'm a well trained special agent with the FBI."

Larry looked a little confused at both of us and I sighed. "It's nothing, Larry. Just something that's between brothers." Feeling that I had to defend myself I added, "Besides the reason for me sitting down is not that I'm tired, it's because I want to check out the map and see where it's best to camp." This wasn't entirely the truth but they didn't need to know that.

"Okay." Hunching down beside me they looked at the map. I pointed out the trail we should take and after that we were off again.

It felt like an eternity before we would reach the place where we had decided to settle down for the night. It was already dark and putting up the tent in the darkness didn't seem to be the easiest thing to do. Both Larry and Don claimed that they were hungry and they lit up a fire aiming to barbeque sausages. I on the other hand wasn't hungry at all.

Besides having a headache there was a hint of queasiness in my stomach and all I wanted was to lay down to rest. My arm hurt a bit too and there was an annoying itch that made me scratch my arm all the time.

"Don't scratch," Don said when I had been rubbing the offending area up and down, hoping to find relief.

"What?"

"I said don't scratch. You'll get marks."

Ignoring my brother I continued to scratch; it itched too much to stop.

"Charles, is everything all right?" Larry was by my side now.

"Yes." I nodded. "I just got bitten or rather stung by this wasp and it itches a little." No need to make it worse than it already was.

"Oh let me see." He rolled up my sleeve and shone a flashlight towards my arm. "It looks really red."

"Mmm." I couldn't agree more. The bite was fire engine red and there was a small white blister in the middle of it. "Strange," I commented as I continued itching. "That wasn't there before…"

"Let me see." Don was at my side again, peering at the bite. "It looks like that time when we had the chicken pox," Looking at Larry he frowned, "You can't get it twice can you?"

"Statistically you can contract chicken pox twice but it's a higher probability that you have been contaminated with a similar Varíella virus that…" I stopped listening to Larry when Don said, "You're right it was probably a wasp. My high school friend Joe once got stung and it looked something similar to this." Frowning he asked, "You have any other symptoms?"

I shook my head. "Nope." Lies, lies, lies.

"Good well let's eat then. I'm starving."

Sitting down next to the fire I wrapped my arms around my legs, watching my fellow companions eat. It was nice beside the fire especially since the evening was a bit cold. Closing my eyes I listened to the talk about astrophysics and I must confess that I felt a bit surprised that my older brother was so engrossed in a topic that was so far away to what he usually discussed.

"You sure you don't want anything?" Don asked when I had been sitting silent way too long in his book. "It's very good." He had popped a beer taking a large swig. "You want one of these?"

"Nah." The mere thought of food or beer made me sick to my stomach. I swallowed hard. "Thanks but I think I'll pass." Standing up I brushed my pants off. "As a matter of fact I think I'll hit the sack. It's been a long day and the time I spent working on this last case is finally starting to catch up with me." Yawning I proved my point. Both Don and Larry gave me a weird look but they didn't object.

After getting ready for bed I crawled inside the sleeping bag. My arm itched very badly and it seemed to be more swollen than it had been an hour ago. Pulling the sleeping bag tighter to my body I tried to get some warmth since sitting outside had made me a bit chilled. Rolling to my right side since my left hurt too much, I did my best to fall asleep.

It wasn't easy since both the headache and the nausea lurked inside of me and for a moment I feared the worst. Had I had fallen prey to a flu bug? It would be so typically me. In the past whenever we would go and do something fun I always become a recipient to one nasty germ or the other. Mom used to say that it was because of my immune system being too sensitive to stress and something as simple as a fun outing could cause havoc with it. Frankly I was a bit surprised that this flu bug hadn't reared its ugly head earlier since going on this hike was something I had looked forward to for a whole year.

Groaning I rubbed my temples. Whatever was in my system would hopefully be gone by tomorrow and even if it wasn't; I was determined not to tell Don or Larry. They would only be worried and then the trip would be cancelled. Besides we were in the middle of nowhere and walking back was defiantly not an option. Not now.


	3. Chapter 3

Happy Easter to all of you and thank you so much for all of your wonderful reviews :) I'm so happy that you like this story. First of all I'm going to give out a BIG shout to Alice ( my beta reader and friend) who once again helped me. Thank you sweetie, I owe you :) And second; here comes the next chapter. Enjoy, swenglish. 

To Hell and Back - Chapter 3

Even though I'm a special agent and am trained to function in all kinds of situations and environments I still can't decide whether being in this tent is one of the worse sleeping arrangements I've experienced. And that's not saying much since I have had real drinking riots with my college buddies in the past. The main reason for my discomfort is one slightly esoteric physicist!

His snoring could quite literally wake the dead!

The fact that it's warm and stuffy in the tent doesn't help either and I'm surprised that Charlie is sleeping through all this noise. He must be really tired. Normally he is the guy that spends the night tossing and turning, unable to sleep while I'm the one that falls asleep the minute my head hits the pillow.

Lying in my sleeping bag I'm starting to think that maybe this whole trip wasn't such a good idea. I like being with my brother and Larry, don't get me wrong, but the professor sawing wood to beat the band and occasionally talking in his sleep can be a bit too much even for the most well-trained guy.

It isn't just the sleeping arrangements that have me concerned on this trip. Even though Charlie is apparently sleeping restfully there is something about him that has me a bit worried. He has been much too quiet this whole evening, especially since I know how much he has looked forward to this trip. The fact that he, the guy who can stay up the whole night, wants to go to bed before 10 pm takes concern about him to the edge of alarm.

I hope he isn't coming down with some bug since we're here in the middle of nowhere and hiking back the way we came would be a strenuous exercise even for the most fit.

I have no idea when I fell asleep, but suddenly I was awakened by a strange noise outside the tent. It sounded as if someone was trying to get in and my protective side instinctively kicked in. Still not fully awake I grabbed the flashlight, since it was pitch black in the tent. I thought I could either use it as a weapon or to scare the intruder away. Being in the business; I've heard about muggers taking these trails and robbing innocent hikers and there was no doubt that I would do my best to protect my travel companions if things came to that.

Sitting up I watched how the zipper slowly opened and immediately I lit the flashlight shining it towards the intruder, hoping to blind him.

"Freeze!" I yelled, out of reflex and the person in the tent opening flinched and I swear jumped ten feet in the air.

"Oh Shit!" Charlie's pale face looked like a deer in headlights and he breathed rapidly as if I had scared the crap out of him.

"Charlie!" I called out; annoyed that it was only him. "What are you doing out in the middle of the night?"

"What am I doing?" he asked, his voice raising a notch. "What am I doing? What are _you _doing might be a better question." Flinching from the bright light he went on. "Can you turn off that thing, it hurts my eyes."

"Oh sorry."

I held the flashlight away; careful not to wake Larry up and to be honest I was a bit surprised that he kept on snoring even through the ruckus that I had just made. Watching Charlie crawl back to his sleeping bag I asked once again, "What were you doing out this late?"

A sigh could be heard. "I had to pee."

"Oh."

Normally I wouldn't doubt my brother; at least not all the time, but there was something in his posture that made me think that there could be more than met the eye going on here. To be honest he looked all pale and sick and I didn't like the way he guarded his arm as if it hurt. Charlie pulled his sleeping bag up to his neck and the rolled to his side, first away from me only to immediately roll back wincing.

"You all right?" Now I really had to know. That sting on his arm seemed to really hurt him and mentally I decided that the first thing I would do when the sun rose was to take a look on that arm.

"Yeah…I'm fine."

Charlie's tone was mixed between exhausted and whiny and being an older brother I came to recognize it as being his "I'm-not-feeling-well-but-I'm-not-letting-you-in-to-what's-wrong" voice.

"You're sure?"

"Mmm..." He yawned loudly. "I'm just really tired." He closed his eyes. "g'night Don."

"Okay, Buddy, try to get some sleep then; we've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Goodnight."

God I'm starting to sound like Dad. All I got back was a grunt and soon it was quiet again; that is if you didn't count Larry's snoring.

The next time I woke up it was a different sound. Instead of snoring there was moaning and whimpering and this time it wasn't coming from Larry.

Turning to my left I watched my little brother tossing restlessly in his sleeping bag. He appeared to be asleep but then with Charlie you never knew. He had a way of pretending to be unattainable whenever he didn't want to be disturbed. What I knew however was that he didn't look too comfortable and putting my hand on his shoulder, to calm him down, I noticed how clammy he felt.

"Crap!" The last thing we needed was one of us to be sick. Feeling sure that the reason for Charlie's sudden illness was exhaustion after working too hard on the case; I cursed myself for not realising that what my little brother needed was rest rather than running around in the hills.

I don't know if the reason for what happened was because I had woke my brother up but the next thing I heard was a weak mumble. "Oh God… Not now… Not again."

Fumbling with his sleeping bag it looked as if he was in an awful hurry. Quickly he darted towards the tent opening, crawling out.

Surprised over this sudden unexpected action I called out, "Charlie, you Okay?" When I received no answer I followed him out the tent and watched him half run in a hunched way over to the bushes and I knew what was about to happen before I reached him.

Wincing, I listened to Charlie throwing up violently on the ground. My stomach ached when I saw how the cramps seemed to wrack his body and I felt the need to comfort him the best I could. "Hey, Buddy, you okay?"

The minute I uttered those words I could've mentally slapped my head. Of course he wasn't okay. He was puking his guts out for crying out loud.

All I got was a groan.

Steadying him as he wavered I mumbled soothingly, "Just try to relax."

Charlie was violently shivering and I placed a comforting hand on his shaking shoulder. "That's it, let it all out. You'll feel better soon."

Charlie said nothing. In fact he was very quiet if you didn't count the heaving. Putting his hands on his knees he spat several times into the dirt below him. When the worst of the bout was over I asked, "That wasn't the first time tonight, was it?"

He shook his head, eyes closed. "No, my stomach has been really upset."

Charlie was now shaking like a leaf and even though I'm not the most emotional man I still felt the urge to give him a hug. Feeling like crap was never easy, no matter how old you were and being sick in the middle of nowhere, on a trip that was suppose to be the best of the year, had to be the worst.

Holding my brother I felt him start to go slack and for a second I feared that he was about to pass out, the parlour on his skin; deathly white.

"I think I need to sit down."

Not wasting any time I helped him to sit on the rock and then hunched down beside him. "Are you feeling better now?"

"I'm sorry."

Surprised I asked, "You're sorry? Sorry for what?"

"For…for messing things up again." he said, his voice barely a whisper.

This made me feel a sudden ache in my heart. "Dude you didn't mess things up. You can't help it if you're sick." "I'm not sick." Charlie looked up; his pale face staring back at me. Cold sweat plastered his curly hair to his forehead and there was traces of sweat as well as tears on his face.

"Yeah, Buddy, you're just yakking in the middle of the night for fun right?" It beats me why he tries to act as if everything is peachy when we have colourful evidence that it's quiet the opposite.

"I think it was something I ate."

This time I couldn't hold back a snort. "Yeah right!" Charlie sighed, and then looked away. He knew I was referring to the fact that he'd barely eaten anything since we'd left home. That combined with being much too quiet for my liking, which in Charlie's case means that he doesn't talk non stop about math, had me a tad concerned. The dawn had begun to break and I noticed how sick he looked in the pale light from the sun that started to peek up toward the horizon.

Feeling that I had to know what was wrong with my little brother I asked bluntly, "Charlie, why have you been so quiet all day? I thought you were excited about going on this trip?"

He looked hurt. "I was; I am."

"Then what is it?"

"I don't know." Charlie cradled his head in his hands. "I'm feeling a bit crummy." He sighed.

"You think it can be nerves? You know it's not uncommon that after a gruesome and hard case like this last one was that the body starts to react. You can begin to feel sick as if you were battling the flu." I paused. "It happens to a lot of us, especially when we were rookies."

Charlie shrugged. "Maybe…maybe not. Maybe I'm just imagining things. I'm probably just exhausted." Closing his eyes he mumbled, "I really don't know."

It was as if his thoughts were jumbled and the words didn't make much sense to me at all.

Feeling badly that I had been so harsh with my comments earlier on; I patted on his arm in a comforting way.

"Come on, Buddy; let's get back to the tent. It looks as if you can use all the sleep you can get."

A loud gasp was all I got back and Charlie instantly cradled his arm as if it hurt like a son of a bitch. Frowning I asked, "Your arm that sore?" When there was no immediate response and he just sat there staring I moved to take a look at what was hurting him when he shrugged away.

"Don't." The tone was firm.

Startled over this unexpected action I frowned.

"Charlie if your arm hurts that badly I need to take a look at it. What if it's infected?" I said, feeling my big brother genes kick in big time.

"It's not infected." With dull eyes Charlie looked up at me. "It's just a sting and those can hurt something terrible." He paused as if it was too hard to talk. "Besides you said it yourself earlier … wasp stings hurt but they are rarely dangerous."

Damn. He was right. Earlier on in the car I told him that wasp stings were not normally all that bad. I think I even mentioned that I thought he was a wuss for complaining about a small sting that didn't even show. Now it was time for me to regret those words.

"I know what I said," I started, "but that was long before you started to show these weird symptoms." I motioned towards his swollen arm. "Maybe we should go back, get a doctor to look at it?"

Knowing my little brother I awaited a total riot or at least an objection. Instead he stood up and brushed the dirt off his sweatpants.

"You don't have to take care of me. I'm an adult and I can manage on my own." Walking towards the tent he went on, "I'm fine and now that the nausea has eased up I'm sure that all I need is a good night's sleep." He paused for a second; a tight smile appeared on his lips. "And Don?

I frowned, worried over what my little brother was driving at.

"What?" "We're not turning back." With those words he disappeared from my sight.

With a mixture of concern and confusion I watched this scene take place. One minute he'd puked his guts out ready to topple over and the next acted as if everything was all fine and dandy. I shook my head; this was not the Charlie I knew.

Even if it was still very early I couldn't get my body to cooperate and the thought of sleeping at that point seemed so far away. Sitting outside on a rock, watching the sun rise over the mountains so many thoughts popped into my head; most of them concerned Charlie. Having a brother like Charlie had never been simple. There were times when I had wished he would just go away, that's how annoying he was. I hated the way he made me feel when he acted so differently from the other kids on the block. I longed to have a brother that I could do something fun with. Okay the age difference was painfully big, and with jealous eyes I watched how Joseph, my best friend used to teach his little brother to wrestle and to play baseball while mine just wanted to sit down and talk about math problems.

Honestly I think it wasn't until he started to consult for us, a few months back, that I started to feel respect for his work. Then I got to see Charlie in a different environment where he didn't look like a nerd and it made me feel good inside. For the first time I could actually feel proud of my little brother and what he'd accomplished.

Looking up into the sky I noticed how the sun rose over the horizon and the orange yellow colours looked simply beautiful. I've never been much of a sensitive guy, that was an area that was usually left for Charlie, but looking at this scenery I couldn't help but feel gratitude.

Gratitude for how I'm able to spend time with my little brother and his best friend. Gratitude for how a new day was dawning and that the previous nights problems would be swept away.

Hopefully this day would turn out much better than the last…I doubted it, but then a guy can always hope; can't he?


	4. Chapter 4

_Thank you for all of your wonderful reviews and I'm happy that you like the story. Feedback is what keeps me going :) Also a BIG hug to my beta reader Alice who have done it once again. Thank you for taking time in helping me out even though I know that you're really busy :) And here comes chapter 4..._

The moment I woke up; I wished I hadn't.

If I thought I had felt bad last night it was nothing compared to the aching feeling I had in my bones now. The headache was still there, hammering inside my skull, and the nausea who'd come to be my companion for most of this trip threatened to erupt again. Luckily it seemed as if the vomiting had died down, but that could just as easily be because I didn't have anything in my stomach to throw up.

Groaning, I opened my eyes only to discover I was alone in the tent and judging by the streaks of sunbeams on the tent canvas it had to be late morning. Listening closely I could hear Don and Larry talking outside.

Sitting up I noticed that my arm was really sore and taking a good look at it I saw that the blister from yesterday was still there and seemed to have grown overnight. The sting had changed colour into reddish purple and the blister looked as it contained some dark nasty substance. It was truly disgusting.

Feeling with my hand over the "bump" on my arm I made a face. It didn't hurt all that much as I had first expected and pushing on it I awaited the sting to be soft but instead it had a hard surface. Strange…I never remember stings looking like this and the fact that the blister looked as though it might be filled with pus made me want to press even harder on the sore which I did. Against anything Dad or Don or even Mom had told me I pressed on the sting even if it hurt determined to get the stinger out of me. What came out however was a nasty looking dark fluid that smelled bad.

Swallowing hard I did my best to force the impending nausea down. I've always been a wuss when it comes to sores like this, not like Don who has had his legs scraped about a thousand of times while being out with friends playing baseball. Me; I mostly stayed home working on math problems.

When the sore started to bleed I decided that it was 'mission accomplished'. Hadn't Dad told me once that if you press on a sting you should stop when its start bleeding since it's a sure sign that the poison is out of the wound? In any case, I needed something to wrap this up with since I couldn't go out showing Larry and Don what a mess my arm was.

This was no time to cave into something as small as a sting. We had a long hike ahead of us which was mostly comprised of terrain like we had already seen or rocks and other hard to walk trails. I was the only one that knew this place since I had been up here years ago and that meant that I was the only one that could find the trails, which resulted in my companions being dependent on me.

I couldn't screw up; our lives were dependent on it.

Searching with my good arm inside the backpack that Dad had packed, I finally found what I was looking for. There in the bottom of the sac was a first aid kid. Pulling it open with my good hand I found a large plastic band aid and put it on my sore. Hopefully this would stop the bleeding. When all of that was done I decided it was time to make my appearance.

We needed to get going and it wouldn't do me much good just lying around here. Besides this was the weekend I had been waiting for all year; okay almost all year, and I wasn't going to let anything spoil it, not even the sickness I felt inside. Being able to spend time with my brother and best friend was much too valuable to waste.

After putting on my sweatshirt, suddenly I felt a bit chilled, and my jeans; I crawled outside to meet up with the rest of the guys. The sun was strong and the moment my eyes came in contact with the beams I felt as if I was blinded and it made my eyes pound twice as badly. With a low groan I put my hand up to shield them.

"Charles?" Larry called out in surprise as he hurried over to me. "Are you all right?"

Still on the ground, wincing against the soreness in my eyes I mumbled that it was too light outside and that I needed a pair of sun glasses. Larry handed me his without questioning why I was acting like a bat in daylight. Relieved that I could once again see I laughed nervously. "Sorry…I slept so late."

Larry, who was by my side now, a hand reaching out to help me up, shook his head. "Charles you don't need to apologize. Don told me you had a rough night so we decided that you should be able to sleep in. He said that you needed this." Frowning he took in my dishelved appearance. "How are you feeling this morning?"

Taking my friends hand I felt a bit embarrassed. It's not every day I was found crawling on the ground like this and if one didn't know me better they would probably think that this was a result of a drinking binge, like attending one of Don's high school parties when he was a teen. Speaking of my brother, where was he?

Larry was either a mind reader or he could see how my head was constantly turning as if I was looking for someone. "Charles, are you looking for Don?"

I nodded. "Where is he?"

"He went away to take care of some…eh personal business."

"Okay." I laughed. That was a bit more than I wanted to know.

"You want some breakfast?" Larry asked as he handed me one of those lovely chicken sandwiches that were my father's speciality.

Feeling my stomach churn at the mere thought of putting something inside my mouth I started to say no when another thought struck me. Going without food in my stomach would not be such a good idea and even though nausea lurked I forced myself to accept the offering.

"Thanks."

Nibbling on my sandwich I did my best not to gag and there was a brief pause when we said nothing and only concentrated on eating breakfast. I was the first to break the silence. "We need to get going soon. It's a long and tiresome hike we have ahead of us." I rubbed my head that hurt even more than before.

Larry looked at me, concern in his eyes. "Charles, I don't want to ruin your plans but do you think that you're well enough to travel today?"

Determined not to let any of the sickness I felt show, I replied quickly, "Yes. I'm feeling much better today. It was either the twenty-four hour bug or something I ate." I paused drawing my breath. "I think it was the latter."

Scratching his head Larry looked as if he didn't really believe what I was saying. "Are you sure Charles because Don told me you were very ill this late night?"

"Of course I'm sure." As if to prove my point I took another bite from the sandwich, ignoring the feeling that it felt as if it was choking me and then smiled. "I'm hungry and that is a good sign." What I didn't calculate however was the way my arm felt when I made a sudden move. Afraid to let out a yelp I bit my lip, hoping that the pain I felt surge through me didn't show in my actions.

I know it was both childish and stupid to act as if everything was just peachy when in fact all I wanted was to roll back to sleep, but I couldn't do that. If I was to cave in then what would happened to the others? Feeling that for once I was the one that held the responsibility for my friends I had way too much to live up to.

Usually it was Don that held this role. He was the caretaker of the family: The one that helped Dad out and was there for mom when she died. I was the weak one that had to be looked after, especially since I was in Don's eyes, NOT capable of looking after myself. These were the roles that we'd played all our lives, except for this weekend when the roles were reversed. This weekend it all depended on me and I wouldn't let them down. No way!

"Your arm still hurt?"

Apparently my actions hadn't gone unnoticed to Larry's hawk eyes.

"A little, but it's not all that bad." It was better to say a little bit of the truth than to spell it out.

"Can I take a look at it?"

I frowned. Why?"

"Charles you might not think so but I grew up in the country and we had a lot of wasps. I've had several bad experiences with dolichovespula arenaria and that taught me a thing or two about dealing with stings like that." He pointed at my arm. "Can I take a look?"

I felt surprised over the sudden concern over something as small as a wasp sting. It confused me. Shaking my head I replied gently, "Thank you Larry for the offer; but no. I've already taken care of it and I put a band aid on." Letting on that I was telling the truth I showed my arm. "See…and it's already better. Not as red as it was yesterday."

"I see." Larry looked at me and I could see in his eyes that he didn't believe me fully, but he let me be, thinking that I had my reasons.

"Besides as soon as Don returns we have to pack up the things and get moving." I looked at my watch. "It's already late in the day."

"Only because we let you sleep in." Don had sneaked up beside me and he smiled at me. "I see you're looking much better than last night." Sitting down beside me he went on. "Man I thought for a moment that you were going to rip your stomach apart."

Wincing at the vivid description I nodded. That wasn't all that far from the truth. A slow roll in my stomach told me that things hadn't calmed down yet. Doing my best to ignore the feeling I plastered a smile on my lips. "Hey, Don; nice to see you too."

Don's brown eyes looked at me, this time a bit more concerned. "I see that you put a band aid on that arm. Does it still hurt?"

I swear that the next person that asks something about my health I will clock them in the face. Okay not quite but that was how I felt. It was as if my health was the only topic that we would discuss on this journey. Annoyed over being questioned like I was an inmate in a prison; I sneered, "Its better." Putting down my half eaten sandwich, which I didn't want anyway, I stood up. "We need to get going now. I'm going to start to pull down the tent."

Both Larry and Don looked a bit startled over my sudden actions but didn't press. I guess they thought I had my reasons for acting cranky and they were right; truth was that if I was going to stay, there was no telling what the outcome would be. I only had a little strength left and if I slowed down I wasn't sure that I would make it.

After we've packed up our gear and pulled the tent down we were on our way again. The hike across the hills proved to more strenuous than I remembered, and I wished I hadn't been so stubborn. Every move hurt and even though I did my best to keep up and to take the lead I felt myself wanting to slip all the time. The sun was high in the sky and it didn't help that it was beastly hot either.

The weather this time of year wasn't normally this hot and if I didn't know better I would say that a thunderstorm was on its way. I had however checked the weather prognosis and they said that the probability of a storm coming up was very low, but there was always the possibility. I had shed my sweatshirt a long time ago and climbing over the rocks it felt as if my whole body was sweltering away. Looking back I saw that both Don and Larry were lagging behind and they were doing their best to follow me. They sweated just as badly and for a moment it felt as if we had died and gone to hell. That's how hot it was.

"Can't we take a break?" Don called out and I could've hugged my brother for saying those words. My strength was reaching its limits and to tell the truth I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep on walking. I desperately needed to sit down and rest. Larry looked as if he was close to passing out and he constantly wiped his sweat streaked forehead with his handkerchief.

I slugged my backpack down on the ground and then sat down on a rock. It felt so good to get a rest that I immediately closed my eyes. When I looked up I saw Don peering down at me. "Hey, Charlie; how you're doing? You spaced out on us again." His tone was soft and gentle and I had to fight to not let go and tell him how miserable I felt. Instead I shrugged.

"Okay."

"It's damn hot today." Don panted as he picked up a water bottle handing it to me. "Here take it, you'll need some liquid in your system after being sick all night. We don't want you to dehydrate."

Nodding I accepted the offer. Don was right. I needed the liquid. Hopefully the sick feeling in my stomach would go away if I drank something. It felt good the way the cooling liquid ran down my parched throat and slowly I felt myself come back to life again. Larry seemed to feel the same as he seemed to look less tired.

"Charles this is no doubt one of the more strenuous adventures I've partaken in." He took another sip from the water bottle and then a smile lit up on his face, "but you know what? I'm enjoying it."

That last comment was so unexpected coming from a professor that spent most of his time inside his office, studying physics that I started to laugh. Even though I felt as if the flu was still lingering inside my system I agreed. It was great spending time with two out of three men that I cared for most in the world; Don and Larry.

Don however didn't look too amused. He was sweating too profusely and after drinking up the last drop of water he put the empty water bottle in his backpack. "Maybe we should get going then," he said as he looked up across the hills. "So we can set camp before it gets dark."

Still feeling a little woozy from the hike I agreed and picked up my backpack. My arm started to hurt again and every move made it shoot pain through my whole body. Yet I kept on walking like a zombie. The terrain was bad and we had to do a lot of climbing. Even though the natural beauty around me was amazing I concentrated mostly on taking one step after the other and keeping my balance. The headache was at times so bad that all I wanted was to sit down and rest, yet I forced myself to the limits of my endurance.

Suddenly I either stepped wrong or dizziness overwhelmed me; but the next thing I knew I was sitting on the ground with both Don and Larry by my side.

"Charlie…Charlie," they called out for me.

I blinked. Twice.

"What?"

"Are you all right?" That never ending phrase was asked once again.

I nodded, feeling subdued. "Yes."

"You sure?" Don sat hunched beside me.

"Yeah." Sweat rolled down my back, making me feel uncomfortable. "I just needed to sit down."

"Really? To me it looked more as if you took a fall or passed out." Don gave me a sceptical look. "You hurt anywhere?"

'Everywhere,' I wanted to answer. Yet I shook my head. "No, I'm fine."

Larry who had remained quiet most of the time suddenly asked pointing at the horizon. "What's that?"

All eyes turned to the direction the professor pointed at and the sight that lay before us made my heart stop. There, not all that far away the sky was very very dark and by the look of it there could only be one thing.

Storm clouds!

"That's not possible," I whispered as I looked at those frightening dark clouds.

Don changed his expression and back was that irritated big brother look. "I thought you checked the weather channel and that it was no bad weather in sight."

" I did. And it wasn't." Panic surged up inside of me. Spring storms were not exactly unheard of over the mountains, especially when it's April.

"It's a storm coming up." Larry informed us and then started in a rambling way telling us the probability that the storm would hit our location. I had carefully checked several times that there were no storms sneaking up on us and even if the probability showed that there was a small chance that something like this would happen this special weekend. It looked as if fate wanted something else.

"This was not what was supposed to happen," I mumbled as my mind swirled around. The headache made it difficult to think and even though I knew that I was the one with the experience it was Larry that came up with the solution.

"We need to seek shelter. If it's a storm coming; it will most likely be a thunder storm due to the hot climate we've experienced today. There will most likely be a high percent of heavy rain and due to this there will be wind gusts probably reaching 10 to 25 mph and it can go up to over 40 mph."

Don nodded. "You're right Larry. I say we better get going before this thunderstorm hits us." Grabbing his arm under mine he said, "Come on Charlie. Think you'll be able to make it?" The sun that had been so vibrant was gone and replaced by dark almost black clouds. It scared me how fast everything changed up here and how small I felt being in the hands of the weather gods. Don and Larry looked as if they felt just as scared and after we've found a secure space to put down our tent, seeking shelter against the winds that were starting to blow, I sat down; arms wrapped around my knees. Everything on this trip had gone bad so far and by the look of it the worst was yet to come.


	5. Chapter 5

_Thank you for all your wonderful reviews. It really warms my soul. Thank you once more to Alice for being there for me and editing and helping me out with the stories. Okay here comes next chapter. Please review, swenglish_

To say that it was **just **a thunderstorm would be a definitive understatement. Winds were blowing so hard that even though I'm use to these spring storms I don't think I've encounter anything like this before. I had heard that storms could be very severe up in the mountains like the tempest blowing, but I never thought that I would encounter one. As if that weren't enough, the rain was pouring down as if the sky had opened and thunder echoed against the rocks making it sound like large explosions.

Luckily we've been able to put to put up our tent as a shelter before the worst of the storm came crashing down. Making sure that the tent poles were secured to the ground I made one last check and then crawled inside.

Larry had lit up the small kitchen stove that we brought along and was busy making coffee.

"The weather is still just as bad?" He asked as he handed me a cup of streaming hot java.

"Thanks." Gratefully I accepted the cup and took a zip. "Yeah. It looks like all hell is about to break loose out there." Moving closer to the stove I took off my wind breaker that was soaking wet. Catching one look at Charlie dead to the world on the sleeping bag I asked, "Has he been sleeping like that all the time?"

Larry nodded. "Yes. I don't think he even moved an inch."

I frowned. This was not good. Normally Charlie wasn't the person that fell asleep all that easily and when he did it was not a challenge to wake him up. Now it looked as if not even an earth quake could wake him up and that was so very much unlike him. The fact that he didn't like thunderstorms either and still slept on like a baby had me a bit worried.

"Poor Charles. He must've been totally exhausted after the previous night's events."

"Yeah this hike is really taking it out of him." I sighed. This was not the trip that my brother had expected. Falling victim to a flu bug was bad but what were even worse were the thunderstorms that crashed outside making it impossible for us to continue the hike.

We sat quietly, drinking the coffee and eating the blueberry pie that Dad had sent with us, listening to wind blowing and the rain whipping against the canvas fabric. Charlie kept on sleeping and if it wasn't for an occasional moan or whimper I would've been really concerned.

"Did you call Alan?" Larry suddenly asked, more in an attempt to break the silence than anything else.

I frowned. "No. Why?"

"If this situation keeps getting progressively worse than it would be a good idea to advise him before things start to slip out of control. At least then he could send out a rescue team for us if it becomes necessary."

Larry was right. That idea had crossed my mind several times, but Charlie and I had an agreement. We never dragged Pop into our own problems unless it was something serious and couldn't be helped otherwise. Dad did a lot of worrying over us as it was and there were no need for him to become burdened unnecessarily. However if we wouldn't be able to continue with the hike by tomorrow I would consider giving him a call. I'm not stupid and after all he is my dad.

"I'll keep that option open, but for now I think its best that we stay here and wait to see what the weather gods have in store for us for tomorrow. When and if this thunderstorm dies down I'm going to take a look at where we are and I'll try to estimate how far away we are and if it's possible for us to go on or if we should call and wait for back up." I might not be a hiker but I know how to take care of tricky and difficult situations.

"Don, don't forget those rocks can be slippery." A weak voice mumbled behind me. "You might fall."

I turned around in surprise. "Charlie? I thought you were asleep?"

"I was." My little brother's voice was filled with pain. "But then my arm started to hurt so badly." He grabbed his arm as if to illustrate his point. "It burns."

I moved over to him. "It does? Let me see." Larry was by my side now and to our surprise Charlie did none of those "I-can-take-care-of-my-self-thank-you" acts which were his speciality. The pain seemed to have won over his stubbornness. Rolling his sleeve up gently, I noticed the heat radiating from him. "Buddy, you've got yourself a fever." Larry placed his hand on Charlie's forehead too.

"Yes Charles, Don is right. It seems as if the sickness is in the midst of running its course. "

Charlie didn't answer and neither did I since I was too busy opening the band aid that my brother had wrapped around his sting. Larry tried to see the injury a little better as I tried to loosen the bandage without causing more pain. This attempt proved to be futile since the tape stuck to the wound and the moment I was able to peel it off a yellow brown substance oozed out almost like a small volcano.

Gagging I looked away briefly before wiping off the excess with a paper cloth. That was so disgusting. Charlie thankfully had his eyes closed which was just as fine since the puss oozing out from the wound would have made any strong headed man nauseous.

Larry on the other hand didn't seem to be bothered at all. Not by the offending smell and certainly not by the substance. It was a bit strange that I reacted like this since I'm normally the one that has the stomach for gore which comes with the territory of my profession, but I guess that the sight had been so unexpected that it made me gag. It also didn't help that I wasn't looking at some nameless victim of a crime; I was looking at my own brother.

"Charles," Larry asked after carefully examining the wound. "Did you see any insect? Any spider of some sorts?"

"Spider?" I frowned. "You think that this is a spider bite?"

"I'm not one-hundred percent sure but judging from the time the bite occurred to the damage its done I would say that it's a very high probability that it looks like it could be a bite from one of the more dangerous species of Araneae."

"Aranae?" I wasn't in the mood for playing twenty questions.

"The Latin word for spider," Larry explained as he went on, " Judging from how rapidly the bite did this amount of damage," he gestured towards the bite that I was cleaning up as best as I could. "I would say that it's either a genus Latrodectus or a Loxosceles. However I am most certain that its origin is not from dolichovespula arenaria since their stings doesn't leave blisters like this." Larry was talking mostly to himself and I was doing my best to keep up with the conversation.

"Larry," Charlie's tired voice interrupted him. "Its Latin, Don doesn't know that language."

That comment made me want to knock my little brother over. Okay I might not be a genius when it came to Latin, but he didn't have to rub it in. One look at him however made me change my mind. Sweat trickled from his forehead and even his shivering form told me that he was indeed feeling very sick. There was a green tint on his cheeks which I didn't like and I decided to watch him carefully for any further changes in his health.

Larry smiled to me apologetically. "I'm sorry, Don. I didn't mean to ridicule you; it's just that the Latin phrases are more comfortable for me than English. It's a perfectly normal stress response."

"It's Okay." I patted my friends back. "So what mean creatures were you talking about then?"

"The Black Widow spider and the Brown Recluse spider." Larry looked at me with a serious expression. "That would be my guess, and judging from the white blister in the centre of that purple and red area I would lean towards the latter. That…" he pointed at the bite that I had so neatly cleaned up and looked like a big sore now, "…is what is called a "bull eye," and it's characteristic for Loxosceles."

"Oh." I felt as if I've been hit. Black Widows I knew we had but they rarely bit people. If they did it could be fatal but that was mostly for small children and sick people. And Charlie was neither. The Brown Recluse I had heard of but those we don't have here in California.

"That can't be possible," I said, as I sat down rubbing my hand over my temple as I suddenly got a terrible headache. "Those…those spiders don't live here in the southern parts."

"That is what scientists say, yes. However the numbers of victims have proved differently. This is either due to falsely reported bites or the fact that the Brown Recluse actually has origins around here or has migrated here over time. Do you know that there are internet sites dedicated to being bitten by this specific spider? And most of them turn out to really serious."

Annoyed over Larry's once again inappropriate time to say the wrong things I said quickly, "But Larry we don't know if it's really a Brown Recluse. It could be just about anything. I've seen common sores look like that after being infected." Okay that was a white lie. But what would one more white lie do to this whole story?

After I had cleaned up and wrapped his sore with a fresh bandage, so it wouldn't become even more infected than it already was, I noticed how Charlie became very pale all of a sudden. My little brother had always disliked insects and spiders and the fact that he might have been bitten by one didn't look as if it sat very well with him. Suddenly his face changed colour very quickly. First it was white then whitish green then yellow green and….I spared no time in watching Charlie turn all of colours of the rainbow and the fact that I had seen that look on his face before many times and being the target; I knew very well what it meant.

And I wasn't going to stick around to wait until it happened.

"Oh shit he is going to blow!" I yelled at Larry as I tried to scramble on my feet and drag Charlie out of the tent. Larry looked up, just as surprised and I waved at him to come and help since one glance at my brother told me that he was in no shape or form to be of any help. "Larry help me, we gotta get him out of here before he redecorates the whole tent."

Despite both our efforts and swift movements we didn't succeed in getting Charlie to sit up. Before we knew what happened he suddenly rolled over to his side and did just that; blew chunks.

All over **my **sleeping bag.

That was the second time that day I could've clocked him in the head.

But then again he was my little brother and he couldn't help being as sick as a dog. Instead I sat down next to him rubbing his back as I had seen Mom and Dad do many times in the past and as I had done the previous night.

"I'm so…so sorr…sorry," he shivered and his fever glazed eyes looked up at me for support. Larry had already told him that he couldn't help it and I felt it was best for me to say something too. After all it wasn't his fault that he was sick.

"It's all right, Buddy." I smiled at him even though I was doing my best to breath through my mouth. The smell was offending and we needed to get that sleeping bag out of the tent or there was no telling what the results would be.

Looking up I saw to my relief that Larry had dragged the soiled item out of the tent and he was leaving the door open to let in some fresh air. That was easier said than done since the wind blew the raindrops inside the tent.

"I'm co…cold," Charlie mumbled shivering seeking shelter against me. I held my arms around him just as I had seen both of my parents do for him, and also for me, several times in the past when we were running a high fever. "You need to lie down," I said, as I gently lowered him on his sleeping bag.

Charlie closed his eyes for a brief moment then his eyes suddenly shot open. "No…No I can't do this. "

I frowned. "Why?" Sometimes my brother made very little sense to me.

"I ruined your sleeping bag. Where should you sleep?" The voice was weak but his eyes were open, searching for an answer.

I thought for a moment. That wasn't exactly an option I had considered. Where would I sleep? It would be too cold lying straight on the tent floor and spending the night outside was out of question. Sleeping beside Larry was a No No and the only option I could see was having to spend it with my little brother; just like we did when we were small.

"Move over." I said to Charlie. He gave me a confused look. When he made no sign of understanding what I was talking about I repeated the words once again, "I said move over…are you deaf or something?" Okay that might not have come out very nicely, but then I needed to show who was in charge, and especially who was the oldest. It came with my big brother territory. You can't give away too much power.

He moved over to his side and I can't say I was actually happy to be crawling down beside him either. The smell that was still permeating in the tent wasn't one of roses and having to sleep beside Charlie who was now as hot as a stove wasn't exactly my idea of a good night. Still he was my brother and I cared for him.

"Is this really okay with you?" Charlie asked his eyes glazed from the fever he was obvious experiencing.

"Sure." I moved in to get some space. "Besides what options do I have?" I could've bit my tongue when I saw Charlie's disappointed expression and quickly added, "Just kidding, Buddy. This will be like old times."

A smile lit up on his face. "Remember when we used to sleep like this? When we were with Mom and Dad on vacations and had to share a bed?"

"Yeah." I laughed, those memories brought back some funny moments and we shared a few of them while Larry was still out in the rain, no doubt preparing to go to bed. "But Charlie now when we share bed you have to promise me two things. Okay?" I sat up on my arm to look at him.

"Shoot!"

"First If you start feeling sick; don't puke at me."

A groan.

"Second; if you fart I swear that I kick you out of the sleeping bag and I don't care if you have to spend the rest of the night on the floor. No matter what villain might have infected your arm."

Another groan; then a giggle.

"I don't fart."

"Yeah you do. " I laughed and then punched him softly in the back. "You always do."

Charlie let out a small chuckle despite the obvious pain he was in. "And I thought you would tell me not to snore."

"Nope." I shook my head grinning. "That one is reserved for Larry. Did you hear him last night? It was like sleeping with a motorcycle gang!" Charlie's only answer was another giggle and at that very same time the professor entered the tent.

"Something funny occurred while I was out?" He asked as he closed the tent opening.

Charlie, who always had a hard time keeping things to himself open his mouth to answer when I stopped him,. "It's nothing, Larry. Just nothing."

"Okay." The professor didn't push the issue and instead crawled down into his own sleeping bag. That was the good thing with Larry; if one didn't want to talk he didn't press.

Closing my eyes I heard Charlie whisper a small, "Thanks."

"No problem, Buddy, just try to get some sleep. And like I said as long as you follow those two simple rules we're cool." There were certain things that you didn't share with anyone but your brother. It was an unwritten code of honour between brothers.


	6. Chapter 6

_Hi. This chapter is credit to Alice who have helped me with the Larryism :) Thank you woman, what would I do without you?Also thank you to the feedback you guys sent me. Please continue sending more feedback,__swenglish._

Ever since I was first asked to make this expedition I knew that it would be a strenuous journey but I had no idea that it would be this exhausting. Hiking with Doctor Eppes had always been something I did when he thought I needed to come out and get away from the numbers and figures that we encounter in our daily work back at CalSci. When Charles told me that his brother would be coming with us I was at, first, a bit hesitant, but not because it was Don. It had more to do with three men with strong yet somewhat opposing personalities spending an entire weekend in a tent far from civilisation or even a separate room to get away from each other should the need arise.

I have always liked Don, but he doesn't strike me as the kind of man that would enjoy listening to talk about math and other theories which I knew would've been the case if Charles hadn't fallen ill.

Even though I try to see all aspects of any given situation both the good and the bad; I do tend to try and lean toward a positive outlook. In this case however I find myself overly concerned by the troubling discovery that we have made this evening.

The bite on Charles' arm, whose origin I believe is from a species of Loxosceles, was severely infected. If it was a Brown Recluse as I suspect the time passage since the bite occurred to the symptoms we are witnessing fits perfectly into the pattern of said Loxosceles.

The main reason for my belief that it was indeed the Brown Recluse has to do with my childhood. As a small boy I used to spend summers with my Aunt and Uncle in Wichita, Kansas; one of the places were these spiders seemed to be as common as black widows are here in California.

My cousin, Paullina, now a very honourable scientist in the biology department at Yale University was the one that thought me everything about those small creatures. I never thought my knowledge would come in handy until today, but what bothered me was that I couldn't do much about it.

Thunderstorms as well as strong winds were still threatening to tear the tent out from over us and I knew that even if we were able to leave right now to hike down the trail there would still be a multitude of problems to be faced and overcome. The rocks would most likely be very slippery even after the worst of the storm had passed and it would be dangerous to go out hiking especially if you didn't know the terrain.

Charles was the only one that was used to these kinds of hikes, and he was in no condition to take the lead. If it proved to be the Loxosceles the worst was yet to come and there would be a high probability that he would become even sicker.

A moan caught my attention and I looked to the side only to see Charlie and Don lay as close to each other as only brothers that cared for each other would. This was a part of sibling bonding that I missed, having no older brother. What I had instead were two older sisters that kept on teasing me all the time and it isn't until recent years that I have grown to like them so much that I can actually talk to them without being bored to death.

They both live so called "normal lives". The oldest, Joanna, is married to an officer and he is stationed at a military base in Omaha Nebraska. She has three sons which I have only seen on rare occasions. On those occasions when I have spent time with my nephews I have attempted to try and teach them everything I know about Astro Physics. I think that Josh, her youngest, actually has the ability to follow my discussion even though he is only eight years old. In a way I can imagine that he is rather similar to how Charles was when he was a young boy…or perhaps me.

Susan, my other sister isn't quite as normal as Joanna. She is an artist and she paints for big exhibitions in New York. She lives a rather wealthy lifestyle but I don't think she is very happy. As far as I know she has no boyfriend but then I rarely talk to her, so I could easily be quite mistaken on that count.

The moment I met the young professor, which was years ago, I knew that we would connect and it wasn't until later I found out that we were both younger brothers and had a difficult childhood where we had to fight for the interests we believed in; in my case physics and in Charles math.

Another moan caught my attention. I had left the flashlight turned on to illuminate the tent. I have never cared for thinking in the dark. Solitude, which I normally enjoy, always seemed oppressive in the darkness. In the dim light I saw Charles eyes watching me.

"Charles," I said as quietly as I could, afraid that I would wake Don up. "I didn't know that you were awake."

Blinking several times he looked as he was trying to get his bearings before answering me, voice weak with sickness and fever. "I…I promised Do..Don.." His teeth chopped as he shivered, "that…that I would wake..wake up if I started to fee…feel si…sick." The words were merely nothing but a stutter and I felt sorry for him.

Sitting up I reached for my sweater. "You want me to help you out?"

He nodded.

Wasting no time I hurried over to him. Knowing Charles he never did anything half-heartedly and when he called for attention it was often serious and action should be taken immediately.

"Think you can get up?" I asked as I helped him up from the sleeping bag. It was tight and I was stunned that the small sleeping bag could hold two grown men.

"Mmmm….but please don't wake Don up. He needs the sleep."

"I won't," I promised as I helped Charles out of the tent. Sometimes it amazed me how much the two Eppes brothers cared for each other. Charles could be working on a big project yet when Don came by needing help. Charles would then always concentrate all his considerable intellect and talent on the case at hand while at the same time trying to keep the balance between his own work and lecturing. This often resulted in him being on the verge of exhaustion and even though I had on numerous occasions told him that this was unfair to his students and his own professional needs he would stubbornly refuse to listen to my sage advise; never wanting to let his brother down.

It was still raining heavily outside and I helped him over to a sheltered place where he instantly emptied his stomach on the ground below him. This time he didn't have much to bring up but even so the cramps wouldn't stop and soon all that came up was yellow green bile.

When he was done he sank down on the ground; exhausted.

"I can't…I can't figure out what's making me so sick," he mumbled as he ran his hand through his sweat soaked hair that was now plastered against his forehead due to the raindrops drizzling over us.

"Charles I think that there is a very high probability that you have been bitten by a species of Loxosceles , otherwise known as the Brown Recluse. This species can also be referred to as the "Fiddler" or "Violin" spider due to the characteristic marking of an up-side-down violin body on the top of the spider starting at the head and ending at the abdominal."

The look I got told me that I could very well have been talking about the rain since Charles seemed too exhausted to take in anything I said. It was also clear that he had registered nothing out of the conversation Don and I had earlier in the evening where he so inconvenient managed to forcefully expel his stomach contents all over Dons sleeping bag, thus leaving him in the mess he was in now. Feeling like I had to say something to make him feel better I added, "However we can't be totally accurate since these bites are hard to diagnose even for medical experts but what is certain is that you have been bitten by something and its making you ill and you need a doctor to take a look at that bite."

Charles nodded, obviously too tired to think, and I still wasn't sure if he had heard a word I said. Standing up he mumbled, "Larry, can we go back inside. I'm freezing." It was then I noticed how he shivered violently.

"Oh, of course." Once again I had gotten wrapped up in a subject without noticing how time just flew by or how uncomfortable my recipient was not to mention the fact that it was still raining fairly heavily. This is the reason I have been labelled 'quirky', 'absent minded' or just plain 'weird'.

I put my arm on Charles' shoulder to steady him for the walk back to the tent, because it was quite slippery. The only mistake in my calculation was that I didn't have anyone to steady me, and before I knew what happened I found myself flying high up in the air only to land on my back, hard.

Holy Moses that hurt!

"Larry, Oh my God, Larry." Charles bent down beside me. " Larry, are you alright? " He looked as shocked as someone could be and even though I was more than positively certain that I hadn't broken anything vital I had the wind knocked out of me from the fall.

After I had regained my breath, which proved to be somewhat difficult, I did my best to sit up with the aid of the young professor who looked deadly pale now, both from shock but also from the sickness running in his veins.

"You think you can stand up?" he asked, "Or do you want me to go and get Don?"

"No I think I can manage, but thank you Charles for the offer." With that I tested if I had broken anything but luckily it seemed that all I got was a bruised back, or that was what I thought until I decided to stand up. "Ouch!" My right leg buckled under me and there was a deep pain in my ankle. I bit my lip from crying out but it was too late; Charles had already seen the pain written all over my face.

"Stay there," he said quickly. "I'm going to get Don." With that he hurried towards the tent.

All I could do was nod since it felt as if my ankle had been broken in half and I couldn't do much but lay around waiting for help to come. I have no idea if I might have fainted but when I looked up I saw Don's concerned brown eyes looking down at me.

"Larry, what happened?"

"I slipped on a rock and hurt my ankle." My voice was merely a whisper and I almost didn't recognize myself. "I think it might be fractured."

"Okay." Don, who was used to tense situations, seemed to take it all very calmly and he asked as he put his arm around my shoulders. "Think you can stand up or do you need me to carry you?"

Upon hearing these words I made another attempt to stand only to falter once more and I would've fallen flat on my nose if it wasn't for Don's helping hand. "Take it easy, Larry. It's no use in over taxing yourself. Charlie and I will help you to walk back to the tent." He turned to look where Charles was only to change his mind again. "Well maybe not Charlie…but I'll help you."

The sound of someone being violently sick echoed through the air even over both the thunderstorm and the rain. I didn't have to turn around to see how sick Charles was, the sounds told me enough.

Casting a concerned look at his brother he called out, "Buddy, you need any help?"

Charles were either in the midst of being so sick that he didn't have the strength to talk or he didn't hear what was said since there was no reply. This left us a bit worried and Don mumbled more to himself than to me, "I thought that the vomiting had started to slow down."

I shook my head. "Apparently not, besides with bites like this the symptoms can be very persistent and worsen over a short period of time."

"Okay."

Don's voice was curt and effectively cut me off abruptly. Once again my need to ramble in response to stress had led me to say too much and at the wrong moment. I am sure that it wasn't that Don was uninterested in my knowledge of this situation but with one man violently ill and another hobbling badly he didn't need to be lectured on the finer points of the Brown Recluse bite ramifications. It was at times like these that I was painfully aware of some social ineptness on my part.

Soon, however, I had other things on my mind when Don put his arm around my waist and more or less carried me over to the tent. The walk wasn't that far but it was overtaxing and every move sent a jostle of pain through my leg. I was becoming more and more convinced that I actually managed to fracture my ankle.

As soon as I was back in the tent Don lit a lamp and took a good look at my ankle that had become considerably swollen despite the short amount of time that had passed. "You think it's a fracture?" I asked

Don, who kept on pressing on my foot, asking where and if it hurt shook his head. "I don't think so but it's hard to tell when it's this swollen. My guess is that it's more likely to be a bad sprain. In any case you need to keep off of the foot as much as you possible since it will only aggravate the injury if you try to put pressure on it. You're going to need an X-ray to be sure and you will have to see a doctor when we get back to LA. Sprains like these can be tricky and cause lots of pain and if you're not careful you can end up jumping around on crutches for a month or two. "

I nodded. Don surprised me at times. "Where did you learn so much about taking care of injuries?"

"It comes with the territory of being an FBI agent not to mention the fact that I had lots of these types of injuries when I played ball." he laughed, as he searched through the backpack for the first aid kit he said that Alan had packed. Finding what he was looking for he pulled out an elastic bandage. "Man, Dad would've freaked if he knew how much this first aid kit has come in handy on this trip. Who would've figured out that both you and Charlie would become immobile? Not me at least." I swear could hear a sigh of disappointment.

"Well at least you are still on your feet." I said in an attempt to make him feel better.

"Yes well let's just hope that our run of bad luck goes away or we could all end up bedridden before this whole journey is over." I could detect a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Oh well," Don said quickly as he was done wrapping my foot up. "I'm going to go out and see how Charlie is doing. He's been out in the storm for much too long especially since he isn't well at all." With that he put on his wind breaker again and hurried out into the storm.

"Be careful," I yelled after him but I doubt that he heard my words since the storm had already swallowed my voice over the roaring wind. The last thing we needed was another one of us to become sick or injured. Instead what we needed was to find our way back home; safe and sound. Right now our lives more or less lay in the hands of Don, who was the only one that was healthy enough to be able to manage such a task.


	7. Chapter 7

_Hello and thank you so very very much for your feedback. Once again I want to especially thank Alice who is there for me, being a friend, giving feedback and doing the editing. Thank you girl, I don't know what I would do without you :) Here comes next chapter..._

I shivered involuntary when the rain hit me in my face soaking me even more than it had already. Sitting outside during a thunderstorm was probably not one of the brightest things I've done on this trip, but I needed to clear my head. To be honest; seeing Larry getting hurt made me feel guilty and that only added to the misery I already felt.

My stomach was still terribly uneasy and even though I doubt I had anything left inside me it was best to stay outside in case the heaves turned out to be productive. Besides I didn't want to ruin yet another sleeping bag.

I had no idea how long I had been sitting on the ground when Don called out to me, "Charlie!"

Turning around I was met with his concerned eyes looking at me. "What are you doing out here in the rain?"

"So..sorry," I mumbled. "I just needed some space."

"Space?" He frowned. "Charlie you're sick and you shouldn't be out here in your condition." He put his hand on my shoulder. "Come on, Buddy, I'll help you inside."

Ignoring his words as well as the helping hand he reached out to me I asked, "How's Larry?"

"Better. I think he just sprained his ankle rather badly but he'll live. It's you that I'm concerned about."

"I'm fine." The stubborn side of me was coming to life again. "Is he in a lot of pain?" Guilt washed over me again because I felt like it was my fault that my best friend was laying inside the tent with a bad sprain or possibly even a fracture.

Don stopped trying to get me to stand up and instead hunched down beside me. "So this is what it's all about Charlie; you feeling guilty; thinking that it's your fault that Larry hurt himself?"

Shrugging I mumbled, "Well if I hadn't dragged him out here in the middle of the night and in this storm then it wouldn't have happened."

"It wouldn't have happened if you hadn't been bitten by some poisonous spider and became sick to your stomach either." He looked at me with sad eyes, "Charlie, Buddy listen to me; this is NOT your fault. You can't take everything on your shoulders. Besides with Larry it was an accident. If there is anyone who should shoulder the blame it's me."

"You?" This was not something I expected my older brother to say.

"Yes, I'm the one that forgot my hiking boots and if you hadn't gone down in the basement then you wouldn't have been bitten and…"

"Don." I cut my brother short. Listening to him torturing himself gave me an uneasy feeling. "It was an accident…all right?"

"Exactly," Don looked up at me and too late I noticed I had fallen in the trap. "That's what I've been saying. Larry hurting himself, you getting bitten; it's all an accident and no one can be blamed for it." With that he placed his arm gently around my now shivering shoulders. "So, Buddy, if you're done moping then we'd better get inside. It's cold, I'm wet and with the fever that you're running this is no place for you."

Another shiver ran down my spine and I closed my eyes. Don was right. This was definitely not the best time to be moping. My arm had started to ache so badly and the headache I had made me feel like my skull was going to explode into thousands of pieces. Once we were back inside the tent I actually cursed my own stupidity at sitting out in the rain. I was soaked to the bone and no matter how hard I tried to get warm I couldn't. After putting on some dry clothes I crawled back into the sleeping bag again.

Larry had already fallen asleep, his foot propped up on his backpack and even though it didn't look all that comfortable he snored loudly.

Don shook his head at the noise. "I swear if I have to live through one more night with him snoring then I'm going to take a sock and pop it in his mouth."

That comment made me giggle. My brother was right. Larry's snoring was loud enough to wake the dead, but I have been friends with him for a long time. We have gone hiking together before as well as sharing hotel rooms at out of town conferences. I have had to endure this nocturnal irritation on so many occasions that I find myself not really bothered by it anymore.

"Charlie," Don said as he sat down beside me on the tent floor. "Let me take one more look at your arm, okay?"

I groaned. Why did he want to look at something as disgusting as pus oozing out from a sore? I most certainly didn't.

"No, leave it for now. I'm tired." Yawning widely I tried to state my point but with Don it didn't work and soon he had talked me into looking at the "bite."

As utterly disgusted as I felt over the graphic injury I was frightened too. I have always hated spiders and the fact that something as nasty as a Brown Recluse could be the reason for me feeling this sick sent chills down my spine that had nothing to do with my fever. I had never seen those spiders in real life but I have heard about what their bites can do to people. I have heard several stories about people dying from these bites or having to have the effected limbs amputated. These thoughts only amplified my fear.

When Don took the bandage off, I saw that the yellow green and now almost black pus was seeping out of the soar in some areas. As Don wiped it clean again I could see that a small crater had developed where the bite had been. It had grown larger at a frightening rate and even though I did my best to remain calm I could feel tears burning in my eyes.

Don must have spotted it too since I felt his arm around me. "Charlie, come on, Buddy…you'll see that everything will work out just fine."

I have no idea if it was the words he had spoken that led to the dam bursting or not, but all of the sudden I couldn't hold back my tears anymore. I soon found myself sobbing into my brother's arms, just like I had done many times when I was younger. Don said nothing. He just sat there, patiently, stroking my hair. I guess he thought it was the fever talking but I knew better; it was all becoming too much; even for me.

Luckily through this whole ordeal Larry remained fast asleep. When the tears finally slowed then stopped all together I felt drained and the fatigue that I had been fighting took a sudden and weary toll on my body. As my emotions were rocketed around I felt very embarrassed for the sudden outburst. These strong and manifest emotions were not akin to my nature, at least not since I became an adult.

"I'm sorry," I whispered as I wiped the tears away with the back of my hand.

"Charlie, it's okay." Don said nothing while I cried like a child in his arms and as always he handled things with calm resolve and confidence. "You're tired. You're sick. You can't help it if your emotions become a bit too much." His tone was gentle. "Buddy, you lay down. I'm just going to clean and wrap up your wound and then I'm going to bed too. You just try and relax." At that moment Don's word sounded so much like something Dad would've said that I felt the tension that had held me in its unyielding clutches begin to loosen.

"You sound just like Dad!"

All I got back was a snort, but to be honest Don is a lot like Dad sometimes. He wouldn't agree if I told him but he has that same gentle caress that Dad has and they both have the same calm approach when it came to difficult situations.

This analogous behaviour has not always been so apparent. When Don was younger he could be very hot headed and ended up getting in trouble because of his temper. This is a side of my brother that I do not often see these days. Okay, there are times when his temper spills over but then it's more often about something I've done or because he is stressed out at work and needs to blow off some steam.

Looking at Don as he finished carefully applying a new bandage to my arm I suddenly felt the need to tell him how much he means to me.

"Thanks Don," I whisper gratefully.

"For what?" he mutters as he fastens the safety pin.

"For being there for me." I know it sounded all sappy but it was the truth. What would I have done if I didn't have my brother there to protect me?

"You're tired," he mumbled as if that would explain everything. "Okay it's all done," he continued. "Now I'm coming to bed too."

I open my mouth to clarify my words when I saw a grin on his face. Relieved that he had understood the meaning of my words and I didn't need to continue to explain I sagged back in the sleeping bag again only to move over seconds later when Don pressed his body down beside me.

He must've felt the heat I knew was radiating from my body because I felt a hand on my forehead.

"Man, Charlie, you're really burning up."

All I could do was nod. Everything else hurts too much and lying there next to my big brother made me feel very vulnerable.

Suddenly he sat up and started searching through the backpack with a flashlight.

"What're you looking for?" I asked weakly. For some strange reason it was getting harder and harder to talk. I assumed that it was the fever doing a number on my body.

"To see if Dad packed any Tylenol. We really need to get that fever down." He kept on searching for a while until he came up with a white pill bottle. "Yep. Here it is." Without wasting any time he shook out two pills and handed them to me. "Here; take these."

I nodded as I took them as well as a gulp from the bottle of water I had next to my side of the sleeping bag. Afterwards I felt like a balloon that has lost all its air as I laid back down, exhausted.

Don on the other hand kept sitting there beside me almost as if he was guarding me. Once again I had the urge to tell him how much he means to me and as I opened my mouth to do so I felt a hand on my forehead, stroking the hair away from my face.

"Shhh…" He hushes me. "Try and get some sleep now."

Annoyed over not being able to tell him how I felt I made another attempt to tell him what I had on my mind when he said to me. "Buddy, you know I like you too."

Those words are the closest Don gets to telling someone that he loves them and there was a warm and satisfied feeling spreading all over my body. I know I must've looked stupid lying there with a large grin on my face but I couldn't help it. Despite feeling absolutely miserable; the warm glow of brotherly love made me feel very happy.


	8. Chapter 8

_Hello to you all :) Spring his here and with that comes alot of work at home so therefore I havent been able to write much. Anyway here comes a chapter which is especially credit to Alice who helped me with the Larryism and his complicated talk :) Thank you hon! You rock! swenglish_

I don't think I slept more than a couple of hours due to Larry's snoring and Charlie's restless tossing and turning and when morning finally arrived it couldn't come fast enough.

Needing to take a leak I stuck my head out only to be totally thrown for a loop. The storm that had raged through the night was gone and all that was left was a little dampness on the rocks. Otherwise the sun was shining and it looked as if it would be another warm and sunny day. I knew that weather could change dramatically up in the mountains but I never expected it to change this quickly. This was the first good luck we had encountered on this trip and if the others could manage I was more than ready to go home.

I had my doubts though that we would be able to walk anywhere. Charlie's fever had continued rising during the night and he had been talking on and off in his sleep mostly about numbers and equations. This was something he often did when he was either stressed out or sick, and even though it was as common as someone else dreaming about baseball or girls, I still felt a bit worried. If his fever continued to rise it could be dangerous and he could loose consciousness.

And then there was Larry. By the look of his swollen ankle last night the professor wouldn't be able to walk very long and I doubted that he had the energy it would take to be able to continue the hike.

This left me with only one option. I had to call Dad and ask for back up.

After taking a quick bathroom break I picked up my cell and went up to the highest point where I would get a good connection, only to discover that there was no signal. The Mobile didn't work out in the mountains and I don't know if this was because we were so high up in the mountains that we were not near a tower or if it had something to do with last nights thunderstorm but no matter how many times I tried it; it was dead.

"Damn!"

This was NOT what I had expected. What would we do now?

When I went back into the tent I saw that Larry was up and he was sitting next to Charlie trying to get him to drink water from the bottle.

"It's important that you drink. You have been throwing up for two days now and you are dehydrated which will only exacerbate your current situation, Charles." Larry cajoled, as he moved the bottle to Charlie's mouth. My little brother however seemed to have other ideas on his mind as he kept moving his head back and forth doing his best to avoid having to drink anything.

"Larry, what you're doing up?" I asked hurrying over to them.

"Oh hi, Don." Larry nodded at Charlie. "He started moaning and mumbling something incoherent and when I felt his forehead I noticed that he is running a high fever and in an attempt to get it down I tried to get him to take a Tylenol and drink some water, but it doesn't look as if he wants any." There was a deep sigh.

"Okay." Looking at Larry I said, "You go and rest your ankle and let me take care of young Eppes." The professor objected but to state my point I helped him back to the sleeping bag. "Your foot won't get any better if you keep walking on it."

Larry nodded. "I guess you're right. It's just that I feel so helpless not being able to do anything."

"You rest. That's the best you can do." With those words I moved over to sit down beside Charlie who had opened his eyes. They were glassy from the high temperature and it looked as if he was having a hard time focusing.

"Hi little bro, how are you feeling?" I smiled gently at him.

Charlie blinked several times as if he was feeling very dizzy and was doing his best to stop the world from spinning.

"Sick."

"You should try and drink something," I said, as it was my turn to coax him into drinking the water.

He shook his head. "I…don't…wan't…any." Licking his dry lips he mumbled weakly, "Nauseous."

The words were a mere whisper and I had to lean over to hear what he said. "You feel like you might throw up?"

"I don't know…if…I…have…anything…left."

I nodded.

It was becoming difficult for Charlie to talk and he looked so small that all I wanted to was to give him a big hug and tell him that everything would be fine, just like Mom used to do with us when we were young and sick. I especially remember one occasion. I think I must've been around seven or eight and it was Halloween. I was sick with a fever and an upset stomach and I remember sitting in her lap looking outside to see all of my friends out trick or treating and it all felt so incredibly unfair. I remember crying and her holding me telling me that everything would be fine. Just in the same way I so desperately wanted to do with Charlie, with the exception we we're adults and adults don't hug, do they?

Okay last night I held him tight as he cried but I'm sure that was because of the fever. Charlie has always been the more huggable of the two of us, but I also know that he respects that I draw a line when it comes to close physical contact. Bearing this in mind he seldom seeks out physical contact for comfort unless there is something special. Last night I guess this entire situation had gotten to be a bit too much for him.

"Does your arm hurt?" I asked as I gently peeled up his long sleeved shirt to take a look.

"Mmmm. Don't." It was obvious that Charlie didn't want me touching his arm but I still needed to see if the infection had grown any worse through out the night. I had my suspicions especially since it was gradually getting worse.

"Buddy, I'm not going to hurt you. I just wanted to clean it up and put on a fresh bandage. "

"You did…that…last…night." He spoke as if he were out of breath.

"Yes, that's why I want to see if it's any less infected now." I said, "Come on Charlie, don't be so stubborn."

"No." He pulled his arm to his side, blocking me from being able to take a look at the bite.

I sighed. Man, why did my little brother always have to be so stubborn? Especially when it came to taking care of himself? It bugged me.

"Have I ever told you about the significance of gravity compared to the complexity of natural causes?" Larry asked, and I jerked back with surprise. In the midst of everything I had almost forgotten about the injured professor since he'd been so quiet, unusually so.

"No." I frowned. This was not the time to be lectured in some esoteric scientific principal but before I could object to this off the wall topic he started to tell his story.

"Science is based on faith in a reliable cause and effect relationship within the natural universe and thus is akin to a religion. The scientific method illustrates this relationship between cause and effect and tests it to determine if it is viable; if it actually works. Based on this observation science is in fact a form of religion with a remarkable amount of instructive authority. However many… well in fact most scientists would strongly object at the idea that their faith in science could be or is equivalent to a religious belief, yet clearly that is what it is. Science explains much that is unknowable but not everything. Science examines the universe as it operates through a chain of events, cause and effect, through linear time. The chain of events that lead from one existence to another eventually leads back to what is believed the beginning of the known universe or the 'Big Bang' as it were, but science can not determine what happened before. The laws of nature themselves are convoluted into and indecipherable complexity under conditions of a gravity warped singularity. The religion of science and cause and effect does not only impact the universe as we know it but ourselves as human beings. Through the natural chain of cause and effect human beings have evolved in as inexplicable complexity as the cosmos surrounding us. On the basis of traditional biological thinking one would tend to assume that whatever complexity one saw must in the end be carefully crafted to satisfy some elaborate set of constraints. But what I believe instead is that the vast majority of the complexity we see in biological systems actually has its origin in the purely abstract fact that among randomly chosen programs many give rise to complex behavior."

I had no idea what he was talking about but obviously Charlie did and that was all that mattered. Once he was done I asked what the story had to do with anything only to get a small smirk back.

"I was only trying to point out to Charles that he should stop being stubborn and allow you to look at that arm."

I have no idea what kind of influence the professor had over my brother but it was truly amazing to see how he could say a few sentences and then Charlie changes his mind and stops being so stubborn. I've seen it happen before and I was glad to see it happen again.

"Okay." Charlie let out a shuddering sigh. "Just don't hurt me." Surprised by how acquiescent he had become and allowed me to take his arm I turned to Larry with a grateful smile on my face. "Thanks."

The professor nodded out of courtesy but I could see that he was just as eager as I was to take a good look at that sore. Last night when I wrapped it up after Charlie had been sitting out in the rain it was completely soaked. At that time I noticed that the sore had grown and that there was a copious amount of pus oozing from it. I hoped that cleaning it out had done the trick but to tell the truth I was also somewhat afraid of what I would find the next time I opened it up to take a good look at it.

To my dismay the sore had grown even more and was much deeper than it had been the night before. There was pus but also blood in the sore but that was not what had me the most concerned. It was the thin blue line that led from the sore up to his shoulder. This could only mean one thing; blood poisoning.

And if it was what I suspected then Charlie needed medical help fast or there were no telling what the outcome would be.

My heart started to beat faster and sweat trickled down my forehead as I was doing my best to act as if nothing was wrong so that I wouldn't end up scaring Charlie. He was miserable as it was and it wouldn't help him if he knew the truth. Larry must've sensed that something was not right when I heard his voice calling out for my attention.

"Don, is everything's all right? How does it look?" The tone was filled with concern.

"I'm just going to wrap this up and then I'm coming to take care of your ankle. Okay?"

The professor looked a bit confused over my answer but only nodded in response. I needed to get Larry out of the tent so I could talk to him and tell him about my suspicions, but I needed to do it subtlety so Charlie wouldn't suspect anything.

Looking down at my brother I saw that he had his eyes closed and the sweat dotting his forehead told me that he was running a very high fever. I had no choice but to try and get help even though there was no cell service where we were. There wasn't much time to waste and I needed to fill Larry in on my plan.

As soon as Charlie had calmed down long enough to relax I saw to my satisfaction that he'd fallen asleep and I didn't waste any time in talking to Larry.

"We've got a serious problem on our hands," I said, as I asked Larry to come outside with me. The professor seemed happy to be able to leave the now stuffy tent and once we were outside he sat down on a rock.

"Okay, Agent Eppes. What is the situation?"

After I had explained that I thought Charlie was starting to show symptoms of blood poisoning and that we couldn't make a phone call since there were no connections, I saw for the first time fright in the professor's eyes.

"What do you suggest we do? I mean my ankle is far from healed and even though I think I can walk a bit better today I sincerely doubt that I'll be able to hike down the hills. And Charles is in no condition to be moved at all."

"I know." The tension of this predicament had led to a headache and I furiously rubbed my temples hoping it would provide comfort. Looking up at Larry I decided that it was best for me to take charge. "Listen; I will hike down the mountain...It shouldn't take that long. When I get to the car I'll call for help and when it arrives we'll come back for the two of you. That's the plan; all right?"

Larry sighed but I guess he knew that we didn't have any choice. I knew that Charlie wouldn't be too pleased when he woke up and found out that I had left him here, but there wasn't much I could do about it.

"You think that you can handle Charlie?" I asked wanting to assure myself that there would be no problems while I was gone.

"Yes of course. Leave your brother to me; he'll be in safe hands." Larry smiled but I could see that it didn't reach his eyes since he was much too concerned over how dangerous this situation had quickly become and to tell the truth; so was I.


End file.
